I mentioned Bruce Pearl in my last entry and I thought I'd actually go further in depth on this whole angle of the Illini game on Thursday. In the early 1990's, the Illini and Iowa both competed to recruit Deon Thomas, who was Illinois' Mr. Basketball. After Thomas chose Illinois, Iowa assistant coach Bruce Pearl called him to question his decision to attend Illinois. During this 14-minute conversation, Thomas seemed to imply that Illinois offered him $80,000 cash and a Chevy Blazer. Pearl taped the conversation and gave the 6 minute tape to the NCAA. The resulting 18-month investigation found a number of minor NCAA rules violations commited by the Illini. What they never did find was any evidence of the cash or the Chevy Blazer. Some of the violations included:

• Coaches lending players up to $10 (later repaid) to buy food after the players missed team meals
• A picture of current players taken with recruits at Assembly Hall
• 3 players getting loans without full credit information for cars at a dealership owned by a UI booster. (In defense of this allegation, the parents of the players cosigned for the loan, and in two of the three cases, the parents could have easily paid for their children's tuition even if they had no athletic scholarship -- which indicates that they could easily afford to buy a car to do something nice for their child who had a full scholarship to school).
• A coach running into a recruit at Aunt Sonya's (restaurant in Champaign) which constitutued an illegal recruiting visit
• A coach making an illegal recruiting trip (visits by 2 coaches in a week) which was corroborated by no records whatsoever, and simply the recollection of one person
• Players falsely listing friends as relatives to get basketball tickets.

This isn't a complete list of the violations, which numbered about 12 over a 6 year period. In defense of the Illini, many of these were reported by Illinois to the NCAA as soon as the school became aware of these things. As a fan, here is my take: If the violations are all true, which is likely, and the NCAA feels Illinois should have been punished for them, then fair enough. Illinois knows the rules it must abide by, and they failed to do so. My problem is that most people tend to remember the accusations ($80,000 and a car) which the NCAA itself acknowledges it couldn't prove (or even find any evidence supporting). And then they remember the punishment -- losing one post-season and some scholarships for 3 years. Most people have no idea the Illinois was exonerated of Pearl's charges and punished for much more minor charges. As for Pearl, there are people who question his character in the matter. I won't go into this topic because ultimately I can't read minds and I have no idea if he really is the idealist he claims or an overzealous coach trying to make a name in the NCAA. I will, however, dispute claims that Illinois fans are wrong to dislike the man for what he did. I'm not sure if others out there agree, but if some one made serious accusations against me that took 18 months and much heartache to ultimately prove wrong, I couldn't help but feel some dislike for the accuser, regardless of whether they really believed in what they were saying.